Meeting of the South-East Regional Group of CPCE in Cieszyn
The Church and Artificial Intelligence
From March 10–13, members of the South-East Regional Group of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE-GEKE) gathered in the Polish and Czech parts of Cieszyn. Delegates came from Germany, Austria, Italy, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, and Russia. The group is currently coordinated by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria, including Regional Bishop Thomas Prieto Peral and Rev. Raphael Quandt. The Cieszyn meeting was organized by Bishop Tomáš Tyrlík, head of the Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic; Rev. Marcin Brzóska, pastor of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Cieszyn, Poland; and Anna Wrzesińska from the Office of the Presiding Bishop of the Church in Poland.
The first day of the meeting began with a Holy Communion service in the Church of Jesus in Cieszyn, where Bishop Thomas Prieto Peral preached a sermon on Lydia, the first baptized person in Europe (Acts 16:14–15). During the opening dinner, the hosts—the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland and the Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic—presented their work. Participants also had the opportunity to introduce themselves and share about their involvement in church life.
On Tuesday, after touring the town, the delegates visited the Town Hall, where they met with Gabriela Staszkiewicz, the Mayor of Cieszyn. She spoke about the unique nature of the city, divided between two countries, and about cross-border cooperation. Bishop Prof. Adrian Korczago from the Cieszyn Diocese presented information about the diocese and its parishes, along with the new album “In the Land of the Living God. Churches and Chapels of the Cieszyn Diocese of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession”. The parish choir of the Evangelical congregation in Cieszyn performed hymns and regional songs.
Videos shown included Cieszyn – City of the Reformation (2017) and a 2024 promotional video about Cieszyn.
The meeting was attended by church leaders and pastors from neighboring congregations: Bishop Jerzy Samiec (Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland), Bishop Tomáš Tyrlík (Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in the Czech Republic), Rev. Martin Piętak (Nivy Parish in Český Těšín – Silesian Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession), Rev. Marcin Pilch (Czech Brethren Church parish in Český Těšín), and Rev. Arkadiusz Raszka (Evangelical-Augsburg Parish in Dzięgielów).
On Wednesday, in Český Těšín, the group focused on the theme “Artificial Intelligence and the Church.” A presentation was given by Rev. Prof. Thomas Zeilinger from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria and Agnieszka Godfrejów-Tarnogórska, spokesperson of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Poland. In the workshop section, delegates were tasked with creating a text using artificial intelligence—this could be a sermon, prayer, or report. In the summary session, they discussed their experiences and evaluated the quality of the generated texts. An overview of different types of AI and distinctions between popular online tools was also presented.
The final day of the conference took place in the Polish part of Cieszyn at the local evangelical parish. The main focus was selecting themes for the group’s future work.